An Inspector of Police, suspected of connections with drug dealers, earlier remanded and subsequently released, on the recommendations of the Attorney General, was shot dead, along with his wife, last morning at Porabe, in Athurugiriya, by unknown gunmen.

Inspector Douglas Nimal and six other police officers were arrested in late December by a special police squad, on information they had helped underworld drug dealers. The complaint against them was made by a woman drug dealer identified as Zulfica who was also arrested. She had later told investigators that Inspector Nimal was in the habit of seeking sexual favours from her.

Inspector Nimal was driving towards Colombo when his killers overtook his van forcing him to stop and opened fire killing him and his wife.

Soon after he and other policemen were released late last month, on the recommendation of the Attorney General, for lack of evidence, the officers charged that they were falsely implicated by certain police officers who in were fact in collusion with drug dealers whereas the arrested policemen were hot on the heels of drug barrons

The released police officers gave newspaper interviews and alleged that they were ill treated at the police stations right through their detention and said they would file human right applications in the Supreme Court.

The deceased Inspector was to meet the President of the Police Inspectors Association Dale Gunaratne over the same matter. Inspector Gunaratne commenting on the killing of IP Douglas Nimal said "it was all a mystery" to him.

The special CID team conducting investigations into the killing of Inspector Douglas Nimal has received information that the he had been murdered to prevent connections among police big shots and politicians and underworld kingpins and drug dealers from being exposed.

(April 29 7.30 pm) The special CID team conducting investigations into the killing of Inspector Douglas Nimal has received information that the he had been murdered to prevent connections among police big shots and politicians and underworld kingpins and drug dealers from being exposed.

Inspector Douglas who was arrested on a false complaint made by a woman drug leader and kept in remand custody for three months until he was released on the March 27th on the instructions of the Attorney General as there was no evidence to frame charges against him.

He had planned to file a fundamental rights case on the 27th for bringing his character into disrepute and preventing him from exercising his duties in a rightful manner and to hold a media briefing the following day, but he was gunned down on the 25th, just two days before filing the case. On the fateful day he was traveling in van with his wife to finalize the arrangements of the fundamental rights case.

He was also due to participate in the executive committee meeting of the Inspectors Association on the day he was assassinated, the Chairman of the Association Inspector Dale Gunaratne told 'Lanka e News' and added that he promised to make all arrangements for the media briefing on the 28th.

There is a doubt whether he was killed to prevent underhand dealings of certain senior police officers from being exposed, Gunaratne said and stressed that an impartial and extensive investigation should be conducted into the murder and those responsible should be brought to the book, if no the warned that his Association will fight for justice.

He said this was the first occasion an investigating officer was arrested on a false complaint of a witness.

Despite being acquitted from the courts, Inspector Douglas was not reinstated until after one month, IP Gunaratne claimed.

It is also well known fact that IP Douglas had an argument with a high ranking police officer for obstructing his investigations against a drug dealer and it is widely speculated among many police officers whether this officer had a hand in the killing.

A special team headed by Superintendent Abeysinghe of the CID is conducting investigations into the twin murders.

Peter

Post subject: CID looking for hidden hand behind Douglas’ killing

Posted: Sun Apr 30, 2006 4:54 am

CID looking for hidden hand behind Douglas’ killing

By Asif Fuard@ ST / 30APR2006

The CID in its investigation into Tuesday’s brutal killing of Inspector Douglas Nimal and his wife at Athurugiriya is trying to uncover whether the killing could have had any police involvement.

So far the detectives have managed to obtain vital clues on the killing and are trying to trace those who were close associates of the interdicted Dematagoda police Inspector.

The detectives have also recorded statements from IP Douglas’s family members as he had received several death threats in the past. IP Douglas and eight other police officers were allegedly framed of involvement in a narcotics scandal which was later blown out of proportion by some senior officers.

The inspector and the other officers were arrested early this year and later interdicted. Two months later when the case came up before the Maligakande Magistrate, the Attorney General discharged the officers from their narcotics charges as the Colombo Crimes Division did not have the necessary evidence to file plaint.

The Inspector and the eight other police officers were arrested on the basis of a statement given to the CCD by another suspect who was wanted for several criminal acts such as drug trafficking and murder.

Despite Inspector Douglas and the other officers being cleared of all charges against them the police department had upto now failed to reinstate them in their posts.

Investigations have revealed that on Tuesday morning Inspector Douglas who left home with his wife in his Toyota Town Ace van had been followed for sometime by a group in another vehicle.

As Inspector Douglas came to Pore in Athurugiriya he realized he was being trailed. It was at this point the unidentified gunmen fired several rounds at Inspector Douglas’s vehicle resulting in the vehicle going off the road killing him and his wife.

The CID said a Chinese built T-56 rifle was used in the double killing. The Sunday Times learns that due to an internal dispute in the police department over the arrest of drug kingpins later led to the arrest of these officers on thumped up charges by the Colombo Crimes DivisionThe animosity between these officers and the CCD was brewing for some time when CCD officers raided the same ‘crime scenes’ where local police officers were involved in undercover operations. This invariably caused more than a little confusion and eventually led to a situation where the local undercover operatives were arrested by CCD officers.

Six of these officers who were carrying out undercover operations were asked to make a statement at the CCD on December 28. The officers were asked to make a statement after a woman named Zulfika from Dematagoda had implicated them as having links with a drug king-pin in her area-known as “Kosala”. The woman was a notorious small-time drug peddler. As soon as the six officers reached the CCD office in Dematagoda they had been stripped of their uniforms and remanded.

However, The Sunday Times learns that this same woman had implicated another inspector, S. Kalansuriya of the Bambalapitiya Police over another case and this inspector was interdicted by the Police Department after the Bribery Commission investigated and found him guilty of taking bribes. He was later arrested.

The drug dealer Kosala had given a statement accusing Inspector Douglas of receiving Rs. 6,000 a month from him. However questions have arisen after the CCD failed to arrest Kosala, a wanted man.

Inspector Douglas Nimal had helped crackdown a record number of more than 300 drug cases in Colombo last year alone. He had also been the mastermind behind the crackdown of a heroin haul valued at more than four million rupeesA week before Inspector Douglas was arrested he had carried out an operation to bust one of Sri Lanka’s biggest drug lords “Guna” from the Kimbula Ella area in Modara. He had apparently succeeded in netting two of Guna’s cronies who reportedly had two million rupees worth of heroin in their possession.

The Sunday Times learns about an incident which had led to a clash between CCD officers and some of Inspector Douglas’s men during an operation to track down a drug dealer. Inspector Douglas had been assigned to arrest drug dealer, “Junda” who had shot a rival drug dealer’s brother. When the inspector had tried to arrest Junda who was armed, he had reportedly run towards some CCD officers who were on a routine patrol.

The CCD officers had reportedly not allowed Inspector Douglas to arrest Junda, who was wanted for drug dealing, robbery and several killings. The inspector had made a statement against the CCD officers for obstructing him from carrying out his duties.When the case was taken up at the Maligakande Magistrate’s Court the Magistrate had ordered CCD Director Sarath Lugoda to produce the accused ‘Junda’ before Courts. But the Senior Superintendent had told the Courts that there was no such person in police custody.

This caused a grudge against IP Douglas for crossing the path of the CCD which resulted in him and few others being arrested. His brother recently gave a statement to the Kaduwela Magistrate that Inspector Douglas was harassed by the CCD on a number of occasions.

Some of the officers who were victimized are filing fundamental rights cases against DIG Pujitha Jayasundara, CCD Director SSP Lugoda, CCD Officer-in-Charge Inspector Nuwan Wedasingha and Police Chief Chandra Fernando. Inspectors Association President Chief Inspector Dale Gunarathna told The Sunday Times that the Association will be having a close look at the ongoing investigation to see if a competent probe into the matter was being done by the CID.

“I could say that IP Douglas was killed because of the inaction of the police department. The Inspector General of Police should take steps to reinstate these officers as they have been discharged. We will be having a close watch and as the Inspectors Association we will see to it that justice is done,” he said.

“As soon as IP Douglas was released he complained to the Human Rights Commission. He also took steps to file a fundamentals rights case. We hope to see that some justice is done in order to prevent such occurrences in the future,” Inspector Gunarathna said.

Peter

Post subject: Who killed cop cleared by Solicitor General?

Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 12:26 am

Who killed cop cleared by Solicitor General?

By Shamindra Ferdinando@ The Island / 03MAY2006

Last Tuesday’s killing of Inspector Douglas Nimal and his wife Dammika at Pore in the Aturugiriya police area went almost unnoticed. The suicide attack on Army Chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka hours after the double-hit overshadowed the Pore slayings.

Their funerals were held two days later. Officer-in-Charge of Aturugiriya station and several colleagues from Dematagoda, Borella and Aturugiriya paid their last respects, a grieving relative said. "Senior officers turned a blind eye," he said, accusing police top brass of denying the slain officer police honours.

Police Chief Chandra Fernando ordered a CID probe amidst claims and counter-claims over the slain officer’s links with Zulfica, a notorious drug dealer and the possibility of the former police commando being a victim of a wider conspiracy. Sri Lanka Police Inspectors Association demanded a thorough investigation triggering apprehension at police headquarters.

Douglas Nimal expressed the possibility of an attempt on his life. In an interview with this writer on April 9 he revealed his helplessness. "Now I am vulnerable to an attack," he said, expressing disgust at the once proud department.

He was among several policemen recently discharged by Maligakanda Magistrate Priyantha de Silva after Solicitor General C. R. De Silva cleared them of being involved in a heroin ring. They planned to file separate fundamental rights cases claiming illegal detention and persecution by police.

The Magistrate on April 27 released them after Rohantha Abeysuriya, representing the Attorney General’s Department, acknowledged that there was no reason to continue with the case.

"We were pleasantly surprised." Douglas Nimal who was interdicted last December along with six colleagues, said in his April 9 interview. "We were accused of aiding and abetting a woman heroin dealer Zulfica," he said. "Now investigating officers acknowledge they did not have anything to continue with the investigation," he said.

"The media crucified us. We were labelled the scum of the earth," he said. "That was the undeniable truth," he said, adding, "...they made the decision to target us, and it was irrevocable," he said, levelling a series of accusations against a group of senior officers and their acolytes.

Shortly after their release the officers appealed to IGP Chandra Fernando to reinstate them. None of them were reinstated. "We are confident the IGP would swiftly respond to our plea," he said.

A former police commando with a nine-year unblemished service record, Nimal emphasised that he had not met Zulfica or at least given her a call let alone sleep with her as some speculated. He insisted that his victimised colleagues Inspector Devage Anura, Sub Inspector Pushpakumara and Constables Sunil Kithsiri, Duncan Fernando and S. R. de Soysa did not have anything to do with Zulfica or any other narcotics dealer.

Nimal had joined the police as a Sub Inspector on May 15, 1987. After initial training he had been attached to the elite Special Task Force (STF) deployed in the Batticaloa district. "For almost ten years I served with some of the best troops we ever had," he said. "I was involved in a series of battles with terrorists. I served the commandos with distinction, subsequently commanded some detachments," he said. His career with the para-military wing of the department ended on September 31, 1996."

He acknowledged that in Batticaloa he knew the enemy. "But in the concrete jungle, you never know," he asserted. He briefly recalled the timely detection and removal of time bombs set at Pottuvil Muslim Vidyalaya with the help of an officer identified as Wettasinghe.

What is now dubbed as the Zulfica affair started with a fax received by Inspector Douglas Nimal, in charge of the Vice Branch of Dematagoda Police, on December 27, 2005. He had been asked to report to the Colombo Crime Division (CCD) at 9 am the following day. The CCD indicated that my presence was required to facilitate an investigation conducted under the purview of DIG Colombo Pujitha Jayasundera. The fax had been signed by CCD Director SSP Sarath Lugoda.

At the CCD he had met four officers attached to the Borella Police, namely, Inspector Devage Anura, Sub Inspector Pushpakumara and Constables Sunil Kithsiri and Duncan Fernando. Constable S. R. de Soysa had been taken in subsequently.

"We were asked to enter the director’s office where seven CCD officers were seated. We were bluntly told of the decision to arrest us," the interdicted police officer said. "We were ordered to take off our uniforms," he said as five CCD officers walked out of the director’s office. "The remaining Inspector was asked to detain us. We were locked up with three armed policemen including a Sub Inspector guarding as if we would try to flee," he said. "Our statements were recorded on December 28," he said, claiming that they were not given anything to eat before they were taken to the Judicial Medical Officer on the following day around 2 pm. "There was only tap water," he said.

"Shortly thereafter, we were produced before Maligakanda Magistrate and remanded till January 12," he said.

"We were remanded in P ward where notorious goons were held. We protested prompting authorities to transfer us. Six of us were dispersed. I ended up at Mahara with Pushpakumara. We were locked up with a group of mental patients. There were about 40 of them. We suffered there for three weeks. Some days they harassed our relatives. They were kept waiting for hours and some days they were allowed in at 3 pm after waiting outside for six hours."

He said that he faced numerous problems as he did not give in to unreasonable men. He revealed an incident in 2001 at Obeysekerapura where he confronted a group of PSD personnel and notorious gangster Baddegane Sanjeeva when they stormed a polling booth. "They came in six vehicles. We resisted. This triggered an exchange of fire," he said, claiming that PSD stormed Welikada police as part of their tactics. Two wounded PSD personnel were rushed to Nawaloka before airlifting them to India. "But I did not receive any help. All of us were ignored," he said adding that politicians and the top brass always looked after the interests of the wrongdoers.

He claimed that he was subjected to criticism over his vehicle colliding with Minister Arumugam Thondaman’s vehicle. Subsequently there was another incident with a co-ordinating secretary to the then Minister M. H. Mohamed. "I did not give in to political pressure and was transferred. Minister’s henchman vowed to transfer me within two hours. He transferred me but I sought Supreme Court intervention. The transfer was cancelled. Then there was another move to get rid of me. I again appealed to the Supreme Court."

Once the cases were over he had launched a series of successful operations. Then again the officer had been transferred to four Colombo police stations between December 2004 and April 2005. "I was moved to BMICH, Wellawatte, Kotahena and Dematagoda," he said, adding, "I was given normal duties and was not given the opportunity to crackdown on organised crime."

He had been promoted to the rank of Inspector on September 1, 1993 on the recommendation of the then STF Commandant the late Lionel Karunasena.

He said that he was given the opportunity to go after organised crime after DIG Pujitha Jayasundera took over Colombo. "I pounced on known targets," he said, adding that 500 gms of heroin was recovered on December 6, 2005. Six suspects were taken. Among the other raids were the detection of a major pilferage of medicine and equipment from the Castle Hospital and the arrest of several persons carrying out a major kassippu distilling operation behind Kolonnawa oil tanks farm.

Sub Inspector Pushpakumara had arrested over 2,000 persons during a three-year period.

Fielding questions, Nimal said that he led a raid on a hideout used by the underworld on October 22, 2004. He claimed that the raid angered some influential officers. "I was a marked man," he said. Although he had brought this to the notice of the higher ups nothing had been done. But the last incident leading to the alleged frame-up had been the raid on a Kudu den in the Borella police area on August 19 last year. According to him the suspects had captured the lucrative market after police, particularly the STF, targeted the Olcott’s gang.

The Borella raid triggered petitions, he said. " I was accused of aiding and abetting heroin dealers. I was questioned by a senior officer. I denied all charges," he said.

According to him Zulfica had been arrested by Bambalapitiya police on December 16, 2005 with 500 packets of heroin. Under interrogation the suspect had revealed that she received her supplies from a person identified as Kosala, the elder sister of Kudu Noor and the wife of Shyam, a notorious heroin dealer arrested at his Ward Place mansion with 23 kgs of heroin. The woman also revealed her association with an interdicted Inspector.

But now all had been discharged leaving only Zulfica behind bars.

Peter

Post subject: Murder of a real cop

Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 2:24 am

Murder of a real cop

The Island Editorial03MAY2005

There has been no breakthrough in the investigations into the brutal assassination of IP Douglas Nimal together with his wife in a Colombo suburb last week. Douglas was no ordinary police officer. He served in the elite STF in the conflict zone for ten years. After his return to Colombo, he was instrumental in seizing a large quantity of heroin and arresting many underworld kingpins. He was one of the only two police officers who had the intrepidity to take on the much-dreaded PSD under President Kumaratunga. Not only did he confront those Oprichniks but opened fire on them during an election in Colombo. The other officer who had the courage to do so was IP Samudrajeeva, who is responsible for a number of successful forays into the underworld and many arrests.

Douglas valiantly pitted himself against big time criminals and, in the process, antagonised their confederates in the Police. So he, together with six other officers and men, was arrested on trumped up charges, interdicted and remanded for 90 days. They were kept in a squalid prison with mentally ill inmates, while well-to-do convicted criminals were living in clover in super cells!

They were finally exonerated from all charges on March 27—on a directive from the Solicitor General, dated March 24, 2006. He walked out a free man but, as was to be expected, he was not reinstated until the time of his killing on April 25. Senior police officers were conspicuous, at his funeral, by their absence. Had his reinstatement been deliberately delayed so that he wouldn’t be killed in uniform?

Paradoxically, Douglas, who survived the enemy in the Eastern Province, came to perish in Colombo among his ‘friends.’ One may wonder whether any breakthrough will ever be made in the probe into his killing, as it is bound to open up not just a can but a barrel of worms for some uniformed elements hobnobbing with crime barons. For, Douglas had threatened to lay bare the true faces of some of his superiors. Did they get together and pre-empt his move by silencing him? Or, did the drug barons and crime czars who didn’t want him back in uniform, take the advantage of the situation and fell him?

Following Douglas’ killing, the morale of the efficient police officers and men who have stood in the line of duty to free the country from drugs and crime has suffered a paralyzing blow. Nothing demoralizes a brave cop more than the sense of being betrayed. We have witnessed the disastrous outcome of the betrayal of the Army long rangers at the Millennium City, Athurugiriya. The Army is today virtually without its most potent weapon against terrorism—deep penetration units.

Recently, there was an attack on the OIC Rasnayakapura (Kurunegala) Pradeep Karunadeera but investigations have apparently been hushed up at the behest of a powerful ruling party politician as the suspects are his henchmen engaged in illegal sand mining in the Deduru Oya. When police officers or men are injured in attacks, their superiors don’t even care to visit them in hospital. This is rather strange in a country where once a Defence Secretary visited an LTTE leader in a Colombo hospital, during the UNF government. (He was bent under a heavy bag of apples and grapes, as we reported at that time.) And today the security forces are getting claymore mines in return for those apples and grapes!

President Rajapakse, upon his induction, promised a drug-free Sri Lanka within one year. But how can that dream be realised with efficient officers and men losing the fighting spirit because of a sense of growing helplessness vis-`E0-vis the collusion between Police high rankers and anti social elements? A prerequisite for accomplishing that mission—which is the dream of every law abiding man and woman—is to protect and reward the men and officers who prove their mettle. And no stone should be left unturned in the pursuit of cop killers and in weeding out treacherous elements in uniform destroying the police from within. They are far more dangerous than all known criminals put together.

The killing of Douglas and his wife has orphaned their children—two girls and a boy. It is the duty of the state to look after them as their father fought for ridding this country of drugs and crime so that all children would have a better tomorrow. While the on-going investigations into their killing must be conducted to a successful conclusion without interference from any quarters, Douglas must be reinstated posthumously and his dues settled immediately. The world must be told that their father was a brave honest officer. Justice demands that!

Saman

Post subject: Re: Inspector of Police & his wife shot dead

Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:25 pm

Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2005 12:54 pmPosts: 192

SRI LANKA: The murder of Police Inspector Douglas Nimal and his wife

August 2, 2006 The Asian Human Rights Commission is forwarding this open letter by C. Dissanayake, of Mt. Lavinia, near Colombo, Sri Lanka which appeared in the Opinions page of the Island Newspaper on August 3, 2006. The letter mentions the case of the deceased Inspector of Police, Douglas Nimal which was covered by the AHRC in the following statement and urgent appeal (AS-084-2006, UA-168-2006).

Open letter to the IGPThis is an open letter to the IGP of the Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka, which I hope to address through Your esteemed journal, The Island.

Dear Mr. Inspector General of Police, somewhere within our neighbourhood, yours and mine, there are three school- going children, who return home after school, five days a week, to an empty home; when I say empty I mean empty of one's parents, the mother and the father. These three school-going children lost their parents in one tragic incident in the latter part of April this year. The father's name in this case was Douglas Nimal. Does the name ring a bell?

Let me refresh your memory, the late Mr. Douglas Nimal, who was an Inspector in the Police Force you happen to be the head, was travelling in a van with his wife by his side when their lives were cut off so suddenly by a hail of bullets, in broad daylight. He was, at the time of his sudden death, under suspension from duty for allegedly being in truck with drug dealers he was supposed to be hunting down. There were also speculations that the late Inspector was framed and the interdiction was engineered by another set of higher police officers to get him off their backs. It was also reported that the late Inspector Douglas Nimal on that fateful day was heading for the HRC to make some revelations about the goings-on of some corrupt police officials and how he came to be under suspension as a result.

I don't know how many children you have or how old they are now; but surely they would have been, at some point of time, of the same age as these three children I am talking about. Dear Mr. Inspector General of Police, what would have been the position if your children at that age had been deprived them of their mother and father in one instant?

Over three months have gone by since the unfortunate incident and what have the Police done; are you monitoring the progress of the investigations that are being carried out, if there are any being carried out; or is It going to be another case unsolved and shelved?

Don't you think You have a duty by these three children to delve into this extraordinary case on priority basis? The last hectic efforts of this unfortunate man were to clear his good name. If he was innocent of the charges against him would it not be correct to exonerate him, even posthumously. This will be a great relief to the three children who could then talk proudly of their father. This is the least we can do!

Then what about the real perpetrators of this crime; the ones who pulled the trigger and the ones who orchestrated the sordid ordeal from behind the scene? You are duty bound to bring them to book irrespective of their colour, class or creed. We are waiting to see how genuine a man you are in executing your duties!